


there you go again, making me love you

by reginasmills



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F, but with a happy end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 20:54:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21214928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginasmills/pseuds/reginasmills
Summary: Maleficent and Ingrith are sleeping together, because of course they are. Then, Maleficent panics.





	there you go again, making me love you

Maleficent doesn’t know how this started, but frankly, she doesn’t really want to know. Knowing would require rational thought, and rational thought might suggest that sleeping with the woman who tried to kill her and the rest of her kind is a bad, _bad_, idea. She might even have to _stop_.

Just the thought of it kills her a little, and she turns to her right, burying her face into Ingrith’s neck, seeking reassurance in its warmth. Ingrith makes a soft huffing sound in her sleep, and curls into Maleficent. Maleficent’s wings twitch. No, Maleficent thinks, she can’t stop _this_. She can’t imagine not flying up to Ingrith’s castle window every evening, not ever hearing Ingrith’s low chuckles again, not falling asleep each night in the way they do now, flush against each other, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fitting together.

In fact, she doesn’t think she’s loved a human so much since Aurora, since… _Stefan_. The thought of Stefan sends her into a panic. Maleficent can almost hear the words she spoke to Aurora not so long ago echo in her ears. _Love doesn’t always end well_.

She can’t be in _love_. She can’t. She _won’t_. Love was a _mistake_. She wasn’t in love with Ingrith, or the way her nose crinkled when she laughed, or her dry humor, or how smart she really was, or – _Fuck_, Maleficent thought, _fuck, fuck fuck fuck_. She tumbles out of bed and staggers towards the window in horror. Ingrith stirs, and sleepily opens her eyes.

“What’s the matter?” Ingrith murmurs, her voice heavy with sleep.

“I can’t – ” Maleficent bites out, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Ingrith is wide awake now, pushing herself into a sitting position, and Maleficent can only think helplessly, _how lovely she is, sitting there in the moonlight_.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Maleficent shoves the words out as they stick in her throat, as if repeating the phrase will make it make sense. A maniacal laughter tears itself loose from her throat.

“God, I’m sleeping with the woman who tried to kill me,” Maleficent chokes out, backing up against the window.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Maleficent repeats, and her heart breaks as she watches a flash of hurt cross Ingrith’s features.

Turning away from Ingrith, Maleficent stumbles frantically onto the windowsill, and leaps into the night. She flies blindly through the dark, before finally settling on a tree when her wings are too tired to carry her any further. Then the tears come, and try as she might, she can’t stop them. She hates herself for crying, and hates herself for falling in love, and she hates Ingrith most of all. _No_, she thinks in despair, _I never could hate her. And that was always the problem, wasn’t it?_ She swipes her tears away angrily, and tries to fall asleep. But she hadn’t thought about how hard it would be to sleep alone at night again, and she only falls into a fitful, restless sleep as the day breaks.

She goes around in a sulk for the rest of the week. The week turns into a month, and she’s still shooting glares at any happy couples, fae, animal, or other, that dare to cross her path. She’s just contemplating turning a particularly annoying fae couple into matching toadstools when Diaval caws at her, and she flicks her finger once in annoyance, shooing him away. Diaval alights on her shoulder and caws pointedly at her once again, before trying to nip her ear with his beak.

“Alright,” she hisses, and flicks her wrist.

Diaval brushes himself off, then says, “A message from Aurora, Mistress.”

“Aurora?” Maleficent is immediately on alert. “What’s the matter, is she hurt? Is she alright?”

“Aurora is fine,” Diaval is quick to reassure his prickly Mistress, “Although I suspect she may be, well, with child.”

Maleficent rolls her eyes. _Great_, she thinks, _another symbol of true love._

“Is that your message?” Maleficent growls.

“Not entirely,” Diaval responds quickly, nervous. His Mistress is grumpier than usual, and he doesn’t particularly fancy being a toadstool.

“Well spit it out, I don’t have all day,” she drawls.

“Aurora was wondering if you’d come up to the palace. Queen Ingrith has been refusing food for at least a week, and Aurora wonders if it’s something to do with the spell you cast on her, you know, turning her into a goat and all,” Diaval says.

Maleficent had stopped listening the moment she heard that Ingrith had been refusing food, her insides twisting up with worry, panic, and most of all, _guilt_. Spreading her wings, she takes off, ignoring Diaval’s shouts, and heads straight for the palace.

She alights on a familiar windowsill, and slides into the room. Ingrith lies on the bed, tossing in a restless sleep. _She’s thin_, Maleficent thinks, the pain in her chest amplifying, _too thin_. She sits tentatively on the edge of the bed, and reaches out a hand to brush a lock of Ingrith’s soft, gold hair away from her face. The gesture is an aching ghost of a memory; she remembers doing it many times in the past, before it all fell apart. Ingrith stirs, her eyes fluttering open. Maleficent snatches her hand back, and Ingrith stares at her with empty, expressionless eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Ingrith says, her voice brimming with the froideur it had when they were nothing but strangers.

_Back to the start_, Maleficent thinks regretfully.

“I – ” Maleficent isn’t sure how to explain herself. _I missed you. I’m sorry. I love you._

“Aurora told me you weren’t eating,” Maleficent says, as casually as she can.

Ingrith waves a dismissive hand.

“I’m fine,” she bites out, “and none of this is your concern.”

“Don’t,” Maleficent says, and God, this must be what people mean when they refer to their heart breaking. _A physical pain, so sharp and real._

“Don’t what?” Ingrith mocks.

“Don’t act like we’re strangers,” Maleficent said softly.

Ingrith lets out a bitter laugh.

“You made it pretty clear where we stood that night,” Ingrith says, and just like that, the iciness is gone from her voice, replaced by a tiredness, a _weariness_, of a woman disappointed one too many times. Maleficent almost wishes that the icy hauteur would return.

“Now please get out of my room,” Ingrith says, in the same tired tone, “and don’t – ”

“I was scared!” The words come hurtling out of Maleficent’s mouth before she can even process them. She can only think about how much she’s hurt Ingrith, and how much she’d give to make things right again.

Maleficent swallows, gathering her courage about her.

“I was scared,” Maleficent says, shakily, “so I ran, like a _coward_, I ran. Because I was scared that I was in love with you.”

Ingrith is looking at her in disbelief.

“Was being in love with me that scary?” Ingrith demands, her voice breaking. “Oh yes. Of course. Falling in love with the horrible, awful, woman who tried to kill you and your kind? Of course you’d be scared.”

“Don’t say that,” Maleficent whispers.

“Well that’s the truth isn’t it?” Ingrith spits back.

“No!” Maleficent yells at her. “No it isn’t! I forgave you for that a long time ago, you _know_ that!”

Saying those words, Maleficent realizes for the first time that they are true. She had long stopped resenting Ingrith for declaring the war – from the first moment that she had seen through the cracks, to the woman beneath the armour that Ingrith had tried so carefully to conceal.

“I was scared,” Maleficent repeats, “because of _Stefan_. Because the last time I loved somebody it went up in flames and I lost my wings and – ”

“So you think I’m like _him_,” Ingrith snaps, “that I’d betray you? My, I’m so delighted to realise that the woman I was beginning to _trust_ has never felt the same way about me! I was such a fool to _love _you – ”

“You love me?” Maleficent says in wonder.

Ingrith glares up at her.

“That’s not the _point_,” Ingrith says, turning away from Maleficent.

“But it _is_ the point,” Maleficent says, spinning Ingrith around to face her.

“Stefan never loved me. But you do,” Maleficent murmurs, reaching a hand up to cup Ingrith’s cheek.

“And that clearly wasn’t enough for you to stay – ” Ingrith spits back, before her words are cut short by Maleficent’s lips against hers.

Maleficent’s heartbeat has reached a frantic pace, and she closes her eyes, willing, _hoping_ against hope, that Ingrith would kiss her back. That all would be forgiven.

Her heart nearly stops for the three seconds that Ingrith’s lips remain hard and yielding against hers, and starts again with a rapid thudding when Ingrith softens, kissing her back.

When she pulls back from the kiss, Ingrith’s eyes are still closed, and a tear is sliding down her cheek. Maleficent reaches a hand up and gently brushes the tear away, and Ingrith opens her eyes.

‘Don’t cry,” Maleficent says softly, her voice cracking. And then Ingrith is kissing her again, and they are tumbling onto the bed, hands tangled in each other’s hair, tugging at each other’s dresses, caressing each other’s faces.

* * *

Later that night, as Maleficent tucks her head against Ingrith’s shoulder in that old, familiar way, Ingrith says softly, “I need to know that you trust me.”

Maleficent doesn’t say anything for a while, and then, she turns her face to Ingrith’s neck and plants a soft kiss there. Ingrith shivers.

“I trust you,” Maleficent murmurs against Ingrith’s skin.

_“I trust you.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of studying for my exams like I should, so please tell me if you liked it! You can find me on tumblr (@nxrcissablacks) and twitter (@isabeIIehvppert) as well for all your maleficent / ingrith needs x


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